Under the truth
by Zeyho
Summary: After Trigon is defeated Raven lives a relative normal life until the age of 20. Now,thinking her demonic side demands her a partner she began the search. A teen male gets her attention but,after a terrible murderer finds his way in Jump,she starts to believe something else is happening. Can the Titans find out the truth or will Raven need to rely on the new companion she meet?
1. Chapter 1

A peaceful day in Jump City : Cyborg was working on his car, Changeling was playing his new video game, Starfire was watching a comedy on TV. They were all enjoying their free time, all except Raven and Nightwing. For Nightwing it wasn't that unusual, even since he changed his name from Robin he has been keeping an eye out 24\7, especially on calm days like this one. Raven, on the other hand, was having a hard time meditating and keeping her emotions at bay. This happened every year after she defeated her father, but she never really mind it that much. The first time when it happened she simply kept meditating to keep it cool, it was rather easy back them. The second and third year it kept becoming tougher, but nothing too hard for her. Now, the 19 years old girl was having serious trouble, she couldn't focus on missions or anything else at all, she was having a hard time with her demonic side and Love wasn't much more quite. She kept pressing Raven to go find someone, of course, Raven being Raven, didn't listen and ignored her emotion.

_'You can't keep suppressing it like this, it'll only become stronger until the moment you won't be able to do anything about it...'_warned Wisdom. In time of need Wisdom was her confident, she lost count of the times she had been saved by this emoticlone.

"What can I do about it? I searched in every single book I found about demons and nothing came up about anything like this..." answered Raven, in the past she was able to reply though telepathy, but now, with her emotion growing and becoming stronger she couldn't. "You don't happen to know what is happening to me,do you?"

_'Based on what you are feeling, Love's sudden want of a partner and our demonic side being harder to keep under control I came up with two possibilities - either there is a very strong creature in town, but I doubt it since nothing came up, either...'_

"Either what? I'm dying or something?"

_'Either you're in heat... And judging on the blush on your cheeks I suppose you didn't consider this possibility.'_

"I'm... Oh gosh, how is this even possible? I'm only half demon!"

_'Still a demon... And I suggest you find someone fast because Love has her eyes on Gar.'_

Raven's eyes widen, Gar was like her little brother, her handsome brother... Oh no,she just though of..? She got up and hurried to her dresser, she found a pair of white slim jeans and a black blouse. She got dressed as fast as she could, put on her black Converse and the holo-ring and was out of the T-Tower in the blink of an eye. Her speed slowly decreased as she got closer to a restaurant on the sea side, it was more of a bar in her opinion but there was no doubt that it was one of the best around. She got in and headed for the empty seats next to the restaurant's bar. As soon as she sat down an auburn haired young man was already in front of her. He was looking down at something she couldn't see as the bar was blocking her view. She studied the man with curiosity : he was wearing a plain black\red shirt, sleeves rolled up showing off that one of his forearms was completely covered by a forest tattoo while his other one had three armbands below the elbow. She stopped checking him up when she heard him sigh and pretended she was looking as the drinks that were displayed when he raised his head. His grey eyes looked into her now blue ones, his face relaxed and a charming smile appeared on his face.

"Welcome, what would the young lady like to drink?"

"Umm... something sweet, probably wine."

"He eyed her, she could feel his eyes roaming her body, taking in all the details he could, and smirking at her. "I'm sorry but I can't give wine to someone who is underage..."

She glared at him and began to search for her fake ID, but he continued to talk "... I already know you are underage, a fake ID won't make me give you anything." Her head shoot up just in time to see him laugh and turn around, a moment later he arrived with a empty glass and a Coke. He put the glass in front of her and began to pour the drink. "Anything else,miss...?"

"How did you know I'm underage?"

"Because I'm also underage and I work as a barman. Believe me, I lost count of the kids that came here with fake ID. I kicked most of them out..."

"You won't kick me out,right?"

"No, no, no. Of course not, I wouldn't do that to a pretty lady as yourself. I'm Joshua."

Raven scanned the man's aura and, after making sure his intentions weren't anything out of the ordinary, replied with a smile "It's a pleasure to meet a honest barman, I'm Rachel."

"Rachel, huh? Well miss Rachel, what is a beautiful woman like yourself doing alone in a restaurant?"

Raven blushed _'Look like it's our lucky day, he's really handsome'_ she blushed even harder when she heard Love purring "I'm just taking a day off, it was too quite at home so here I am..."

"And your boyfriend? You should tell him, it's not nice to leave you all alone like this..."

Raven looked at him, eyebrows fussed "I don't have one."

His eyes widen "You don't? Didn't see that coming..."

"What do you mean?"

"You're young and beautiful, boys just be all over you."

She laughed "No, not really. Believe me or not, I never had a boyfriend..."

The barman stopped talking and looked around, he smiled "Then how about we go somewhere else? My shift just ended so I'm free..."

_'He's good looking, charming and smart... What do I have to lose?'_

_'Careful... Remember, you are in heat, don't let anything distract you.'_

She smiled at Wisdom's warning "Why not? Let's have some fun."

He smiled as he called out the man that just entered "Matt! Just in time, like always. The bar is all your."

Raven turned around and looked at this 'Matt', he was clearly older than Joshua. He seemed to be in his early thirties, but maybe he was younger and the beard was what made him look older. He had black hair, green eyes and was wearing a white simple shirt, light blue jeans and white shoes. "You hitting on girls again? Serious bro, you should stop that..."

Joshua smirked "I'll stop when I will find that special girl, who knows maybe she's standing in front of me right now..." he winked at Raven making her turn red. He smiled and, in one simple move, he jumped over the bar "Come on Rachel,let's get out of here."

Raven nodded and said goodbye to Matt before turning back to Joshua "Where are we going?"

"You still want that drink?" she nodded "Good,there's a bar near by,we can grab a drink and talk. I promise you'll like it,it's cozy and dark."

She smiled and nodded. A few minutes later they entered the bar. Just like her companion had told her the place was cozy and dark, with few people inside. They found a table in the farthest corner and Raven sat down letting Joshua go and grab the drinks.

"A sweet wine for the lady.." he said as he took a sit next to her. "Anything else?"

"No, thank you. You were right, I like it here."

He laugh "Knew it, few people come here because it's right next to a gay club and the people that live here are all old and very traditional, total bullshit..."

"Oh, why is that?"

"I don't see what is wrong with homosexuality. It's as normal as anything else nowadays."

Raven raised her eyebrow "You're open-minded then, not many people are as accepting as you. Maybe that is why this coast is just tolerant of homosexuality."

"True, true... But I have nothing with anyone, it's not their fault they were raised to think that way."

"Indeed. So, aside from this, what else can you say about yourself?"

He took a moment to think "Not much actually ,I'm a pretty normal guy. I work as a barman, as you already know, and even if I am underage I do drink."

"Then why didn't you gave me a glass of wine?"

"Just because I do that doesn't mean I want others to... I'm a weird guy."

"Weird is good."

He smirked "Says the freak?"

"You always flirt with girls by calling them a freak?"

"The reason why I'm single. That, and I'm not good at being what people call romantic..."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I don't like the guys that all are sappy words and shit,they look like idiots."

Raven laughed as the teen began to do a interpretation on a so called 'idiot'. She though the guy was so out of the ordinary that maybe she just found someone. When she was about to tell him now stupid he is her communicator rang. She sighed and told Joshua to keep quite before answering, she was so glad Cyborg designed them to look like phones "Yes?"

"Raven we have trouble. A murder not far from your location, we're heading there now."

"Ok, I'll be there shortly." with that she ended the call "I'm sorry Joshua, but my roommates need me back home..."

"He smiled "It's cool. You want me to give you a lift?"

"No, thank you but I like to walk. So,um... See you around?"

He male smiled and handed Raven a little paper "My number, if you need someone to hang out with or just someone to get you home when you're wasted call." and with that he was gone.

pRaven smiled and went her way. She arrived at the crime scene after 5 minutes. "What do we have here,Nightwing?"

"21, male named Andrew Morgan,it looks like he was cut with something very sharp, the wounds are also very deep. He died due to the bleeding." her leader pointed to to where the victim was.

Raven got closer and looked at the boy. Her mind flew back when she saw the resemble between the male and Joshua, she gulped and looked at the wounds. 4 deep mark that started from his stomach and stopped on his chest, right under the neck, poor guy didn't look like he had a change. His grey were wide open, his arms covered in smaller cuts and his clothes looked like he was dragged around for a good amount of time. Her trance was broken when the officer came next to her and Nightwing.

"It seems the victim was only a relative alive. He notified the brother and he is on his way right now, you might want to talk to him."

"Nightwing was confused "Why?"

"The Morgans are a wealthy family. Andrew is also a famous fighter, known all around the world. Maybe someone wanted to cut off his fame..."

"Nightwing nodded "Thank you for the note,officer."

A moment later a man ran toward them, officers holding him up. "Let me go, dammit!"

Raven recognized that voice right away. Held up by the officers was no other than Joshua who was very angry and sad. The officer that talked to her yelled at the men to let him pass.

"Sorry for my men, mister Morgan."

Joshua sighed "It's okay..." He looked down at his brother, tears threatening to come out "What happened to him?"

"Nightwing made a step forward "You are his brother?"

"Yes, I'm Joshua Morgan, Andrew's younger brother. Do you have any idea what did this to him?"

"Not yet,but we'd like you to come with us and answer some questions."

Joshua nodded "Of course."

Raven couldn't do anything more than pray that he wouldn't recognize her. She cast one last look at the man only to find him looking at her,as their eyes meet he smiled before turning back to Nightwing. Raven gulped,could this man already know who she was?


	2. Chapter 2

"I apologize for taking so much of your time, but-" Nightwing began as him and Joshua took a sit in the interrogatory room.

"It's standard for anyone involved, even the slightest, into a murder investigation." the male finished. "Yes, I'm aware that I'm also a suspect and thus you must question me."

"Ok, mister Morgan. We'll start with the basics. Name and age."

"Joshua Morgan, 20." he replied pulling out his ID for the hero to see.

"Place and date of birth."

"New Orleans, Louisiana. Tenth of June."

Outside the room, the rest of the Titans were chatting. Raven was looking directly at the male. Joshua had averted his eyes multiple times in her direction and this made her worried. He couldn't have recognized her, could he? No, nobody had before, plus he couldn't actually see her. 'He's probably just nervous...'

"Do you think he killed his brother?" asked Star.

That question shifted her attention to the young alien and the rest. Garfield just muttered a 'i don't think so' while Cyborg remained silent.

"Something wrong?" the demoness finally asked.

"Just... It doesn't make sense. Why would he work when he's practically one of the richest people out there? "

"He's rich?" the demoness asked.

"You kidding? He's practically made of money - his brother was a legend in his sport and his parents were both CEO's at a company worldwide known as the best of the best. The kid became it's sole owner when their parents died."

"Maybe he wants to earn his money?" the Tamarian asked.

"I don't thinks so. I mean, he doesn't look like the type to work... Dude, the guy even has Rae all flustered over him!" Logan said smirking.

At that the said girl blushed and turned her head to Joshua. He really didn't look like the type that wouldn't take advantage of his good looks and intelligence. Truth be told, in the short time they had spent together he managed to surprise her with his mind's acuity. Imagine her surprise when he smirked back at her and raised his eyebrow. She felt like the whole world was collapsing on her, he couldn't possibly see her throught the glass, but, more importantly, he couldn't know who she actually was, could he? No, no, no... he just couldn't.

The only thing that got her out her own world was Richard's words "Mister Morgan, without an alibi you are the prime suspect."

She was having a panic attack - he was with her, but if Dick found out a civilian could actually knew her real identity he'd go nuts.

"I was with someone right before I was called and I was at work, my manager can confirm it. "

"I'll need the name of the person you was with."

Raven's heart was beating like crazy, she couldn't let Joshua become a suspect. She took a deep breath and nodded at the guy. Joshua's eyes widen and shook his head.

"Unfortunately, I can't d-"

"He was with me, Nightwing."

Everyone turned to her - Dick was confused, Victor was stunned while Garfield and Kori were amazed.

"She's joking-" the male began.

"Joshua, I know you already figured out who I really am."

Joshua sighed, but he still smiled a little "Rachel, you didn't have to do this."

"I had to. Nightwing, this interrogatory is meaningless, let him go if you have all the info you need."

"B-But... He and you... Raven is that true?"

She nodded and turned to Joshua "Come on, I'll show you out." But he was to shocked to move "Joshua."

"Y-Yeah... coming..."

The two made their way along the corridor to the elevator, but the demoness didn't stop and continued walking to her room.

The male raised his eyebrow "I thought you wanted to show me out...?"

She rolled her eyes "Change of plans, get your ass in here. We need to have a serious talk about...everything." he nodded.


End file.
